31 Days: Listening to Lessons from The Wrong Book

The thing about listening to God is that his methods are not always predictable. Sometimes he speaks in ways that are as unexpected as they are profound. One of those occasions for me came through The Wrong Book by Nick Bland.

Yes, The Wrong Book. It’s a children’s book. A children’s picture book.

It’s the story of a boy named Nicholas Ickle. At least it’s meant to be his story…

Here’s the interactive iPad version wonderfully narrated by Frank Woodley. Please take a few minutes to enjoy the book before you read on.

What I learnt from The Wrong Book

So here’s my grown-up take on this wonderful story. Nicholas Ickle has a plan. This book is about him. Except that all these page-crashers, these uninvited book guests, keep showing up to spoil his plan. And that makes him angry because his expectation of telling his story is not being met.

But Nicholas Ickle is still telling his story, because surely he is a little boy who dreams of elephants and monsters, pirates and puppets. That’s why they came. They may be in the Wrong Book but they show us something of Nicholas Ickle anyway. The book is still about Nicholas, just not in the way he imagined.

Isn’t that what life can be like for us? Our perfect plans for our lives never seem to quite work out that way. All the interruptions, the unexpected people and events that show up in our lives, mess up our schedules and feed our plans through the shredder. We don’t see that they are still part of our story; we only see that things aren’t the way we planned them.

We have a choice though, to embrace the book-crashers in our lives. To forgive the intrusion, to allow them to enrich our story, to teach us new things, to make new friends, to grow, to love. To even be grateful for their presence. Our story is still our story.

And something else…

I noticed how much my thought life, my prayer life, can look like Nicholas Ickle and The Wrong Book. Uninvited thoughts; things I call distractions come in unwanted. Resented even. They detour me away from where I thought I was going. They’re messy or ugly, self-seeking, petulant or just plain off the point.

I don’t want to embrace them; they’re off the plan. I’m angry that my thoughts and prayers have been hijacked. But what if they too are really part of my story? What if they are telling the bigger truth of my story, not just the small, edited, clean version I had planned for myself?

The more I thought about this book, the more I saw the invitation in it. Would I be like Nicholas Ickle, angry and upset? Or would I embrace my story-crashers and tell a bigger story than I’d originally planned?

And later, came the God-whisper:

Listen.

Grace.
Receive grace.
Receive my presence.

I already love you. Stop trying to please me. Stop trying to earn my approval.

Know that you are loved.
Receive the gift of my presence.

Be open to to all the ways I speak to you.
Look for me.
Make time for me.
Wait for me.
Listen.
Be willing to let go of the old ways.

Embrace life.
Embrace love.
Embrace the messy, the unexpected, the story-crashers.

In what unexpected ways is God speaking to you?

This is Day 26 of the series 31 Days to Listen. Visit Write 31 Days to see what hundreds of other writers are posting for this challenge.

When God whispers “Come to Me”

Come to me, he whispers.

I don’t want to miss this moment.

As I listen to Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson singing “Come to Me” (it’s on repeat as I write this post) I am reminded that I am seen, that I am known, that I am precious.

I am reminded of the Lord’s great love for me, his desire for intimacy with me. I am reminded of his promises, that he is faithful and worthy of my trust. I am reminded that he is always with me.

I am reminded that I can come to him with all my questions, my burdens, my fears and my mess. I can rest in him.

 

This is the invitation he gives to me. Come to Me.

This is the invitation he gives to all of us. Come to Me.

He’s whispering to you. Come to Me.

Will you come?

When listening is the way to His heart

The God-whisper:

Learn how to listen.
Make time to listen.
Be intentional about listening.
Give honour and respect, don’t bring your own agenda.
This is not just about getting instructions for the next thing to do.
This is about relationship, knowing, intimacy.
This is about heart-sharing.
This is about transformation.

That was over two years ago. I was asking the Lord how to foster a more intimate relationship with him. Slowly, I’ve been learning; inclining my ear towards him.

And still He whispers, “Listen.”

The truth is that while there have been wonderful moments of listening and receiving, I’ve also been dodging and weaving, ducking and diving.

I want to share my heart with you, but you need to listen.

The truth is that I haven’t trusted his heart for me. I’ve too often tightened my grip on my own agenda. And I’ve been afraid of what I might hear.

The truth is that his love is unfailing.
His faithfulness is unwavering.
His grace and mercy are unmatched.
His gentleness is unsurpassed.

And I am his beloved.

“Listen.”

An intimate relationship is only possible if I will listen. This is the path set before me. The invitation.

As we enter into a new year, this is the path I choose. To listen to his word, his voice, his heart, his creation.

I want to find out what happens when my first priority is to listen.

What is God whispering to you?

Image sourced here.